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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22527796">Sleep Well, My Love</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Geishaaa/pseuds/Geishaaa'>Geishaaa</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Bleach</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>5 Times, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, One Shot, Romance, sleep talk</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 12:03:08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,156</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22527796</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Geishaaa/pseuds/Geishaaa</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Ichigo learns a rather fascinating fact about his boyfriend; Toshiro was, in fact, a sleep-talker. A collection of five times Toshiro spoke in his sleep while Ichigo listened on. Ichihitsu, yaoi. Fluff-overload. One-shot</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hitsugaya Toushirou/Kurosaki Ichigo</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>175</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>IchiHitsu Ship Week and Archive</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Sleep Well, My Love</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>YYooo </p>
<p>This was the first fan fiction piece I ever wrote for Bleach (and it reads that way), I posted it on FFN over 4 years ago. I will apologise for the bad grammar but I will not apologise for the overuse of cheesy nicknames and sickeningly sweet fluff because that was a hella good phase in my life lol</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>I.</strong>
</p>
<p>The first time Ichigo heard his boyfriend sleep-talk, he shouldn’t have been surprised. Toshiro was out cold from the moment his head hit the pillows; clearly exhausted. Ichigo had seen the fatigue etched all over his lover’s face when he arrived at the Tenth Division earlier that day. It was not an unusual sight, the captain sitting at his desk, hunched over one report or another, while towers of paperwork surrounded him. Ichigo often joked that it looked like the poor little captain was swimming – drowning, really – in the wild swell of the Pacific Ocean, a particularly high stack of paper leaning dangerously towards him comparable with an unforgiving wave preparing to crash down upon its’ victim. Unsurprisingly, his joke had been met with a hard glare.</p>
<p>Hours later, when dinner had long since passed, Ichigo managed to pull his boyfriend away from his desk and towards his quarters, assuring him that he could return to the office first thing in the morning. Toshiro grumbled in annoyance but even he knew that he was too tired to fight the persistent strawberry tonight.</p>
<p>“Why can’t you assign some of the paperwork to your seated officers?” Ichigo suggested lightly, his hand on the small of Toshiro’s back as the two walked through the deserted hallways of the Tenth Division, “You used to do most of the paperwork when you were my dad’s third seat, right?”</p>
<p>Toshiro snorted, “Only because your father and Matsumoto were too busy playing drinking games and slacking off around the office.”</p>
<p>“I still don’t think it’s fair that you have to do yours and Rangiku’s share, as well as all of the Fifth Division paperwork”</p>
<p>“Someone has to do it, Squad 5 has no captain and Hinamori is still out of it.”</p>
<p>“But does that someone have to be you? You already do more paperwork than any other captain!”</p>
<p>Toshiro didn’t answer, he didn’t have to. Ichigo knew why, and it all had to do with the coma-ridden lieutenant of that particular division. Ichigo knew that Toshiro harboured tremendous guilt after what happened in the battle against Aizen, even if he never said so out loud. Momo Hinamori was the closest thing Toshiro had to a sister and he had impaled her with his Hyorinmaru – accidently, of course – but Toshiro still could not shake the dark cloud of blame that followed him around the Seireitei. As a result, Ichigo’s little lover had thrown himself into his duties, but whether it was purely out of guilt or to merely distract himself from all the pain, Ichigo did not know, but he could see that the heavy work load was taking its toll.</p>
<p>Later that night, while Ichigo wrapped himself around his sleeping boyfriend’s lithe body, he should not have been shocked to hear Toshiro mumble somewhat incoherently into his broad chest. Exhaustion causes people to do strange things, so why was he so stunned?</p>
<p>Ichigo had finally confessed his feelings to Toshiro over six months ago, although his ‘little’ (read: massive) crush had been a long known fact to all of his friends – all except the boy in question, whom remained oblivious as to why the orange-haired substitute came to his office every weekend for the better half of a year. Luckily for Ichigo, the young captain had come to enjoy his visits, so when he did finally muster up the courage to confess his love, he was rewarded with cool lips on his own. Since that afternoon, Ichigo had been able to call the grumpy captain his boyfriend.</p>
<p>“Ichi…”</p>
<p>The faint whisper brought Ichigo back to the present. He knew that he shouldn’t have been so surprised to hear his boyfriend call out his name during sleep; this was surely just one new thing Ichigo was learning about the ice wielder. Sleep-talking isn’t uncommon, after all. Managing to ignore the fact that Toshiro was using his first name – usually reserved only for when he was deadly serious or in throws of love making – instead of just “Kurosaki”, and not even his full first name at that, Ichigo was a little astounded that the aloof prodigy had let his guard down. Toshiro always kept the reigns tight; he never exposed any part of him unless he meant to, he never spoke without thinking and he most definitely did not show weakness to anyone.</p>
<p>“Ichi…”</p>
<p>Well, of course Toshiro let his guard down – he was asleep. Ichigo wanted to slap himself for his stupidity. Unconscious means not being aware or having control over one’s body. Sleep was the only time Toshiro had zero control over himself.</p>
<p>“Ichi…” Toshiro uttered softly into Ichigo’s shoulder for the third time that night. Ichigo tightened his hold on the warm body in his arms and nuzzled his nose into the startling white locks atop his lover’s head, visible even in the darkest of rooms. He decided to talk back, to see if he could converse with the slumbering boy-genius.</p>
<p>“Yeah, Baby? I’m here,” Ichigo whispered whilst rubbing circles into Toshiro’s back. He wondered if Toshiro’s sleep-talk would be as serious as when he was awake, or if he would be met with utter nonsense as a product of an exhausted mind instead.</p>
<p>“Ichi…too much…no more…please.”</p>
<p>
  <em>Huh?</em>
</p>
<p>Ichigo was perplexed; what was his baby dragon talking about? He suddenly worried that his lover’s slurred and broken sentence was referring to how tightly he was holding him. Toshiro hadn’t been one for affection when they had first started dating, but Ichigo had thought Toshiro enjoyed it now, so long as they were in the privacy of one of their own homes.</p>
<p>“What’s wrong, Toshiro?”</p>
<p>Ichigo let out a bark of laughter when Toshiro replied, mumbling something that sounded suspiciously like “Too much paperwork, Ichi…”</p>
<p>Of course the captain was worried about paperwork, even in his sleep. The poor guy probably dreamt of the stuff.</p>
<p>Ichigo resumed his previous hold on the boy and whispered sweet nothings into his ear until he was sure his prickly little lover had nothing left to say. Grinning to himself, Ichigo shifted his hold on the small body in order to get more comfortable.</p>
<p>As he finally succumbed to the sleep that was tugging in the back of his mind, he made a mental note to talk to Rangiku about helping out more with the paperwork; he’d be damned if he was going to let something as trivial as paperwork follow his baby dragon to bed every night.</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <strong>II.</strong>
</p>
<p>On rare occasions, Ichigo was awarded the luxury of having his boyfriend come visit him in the World of The Living. Such occasions had become slightly more frequent in the recent months, as the Seireitei had finally repaired the damages left in Aizen’s wake and normality had, for the most part, returned. Shuuhei Hisagi and Izuru Kira had been assigned as the temporary captains of the 9<sup>th</sup> and 3<sup>rd</sup> divisions respectively. Shuuhei was currently training to reach bankai in order to be appointed the permanent and official captain of his squad, but Izuru wanted nothing more than to return to his lieutenant’s position as soon as the head captain found a more suitable person to take over as captain. The Fifth division was still without its first and second seats, as when Momo finally had recovered she decided to retire to Junrinan to live with her and Toshiro’s grandmother. While Toshiro was glad that she could finally be safe and away from the constant reminders of the war, this however also meant Squad 5 was leader-less. As a result, the other 12 divisions agreed to share the responsibility; distributing and rotating tasks, such as paperwork, training, patrols, missions, discipline, recruitment and more.</p>
<p>It seemed that this new system, along with Rangiku taking on more of the paperwork (after a little chat with a certain strawberry three months ago), left Toshiro with considerably more spare time, much to Ichigo’s delight. Toshiro agreed to spend one weekend out of every three weekends in Ichigo’s world, while Ichigo would come to the Soul Society for the other two weekends, and so the cycle continued.</p>
<p>That was how Ichigo found himself at his desk one Sunday afternoon, quietly filling out the homework that would be due in first period tomorrow, while Toshiro curled up with a book on his bed. It wasn’t unusual for them to be working through their own tasks while together, Ichigo with his studies, and Toshiro with his paperwork or books, so the silence between them was quite comfortable…or it would have been, for at the moment, Toshiro suddenly exclaimed:</p>
<p>“Save her, Ichigo!”</p>
<p>Ichigo’s head snapped up from one particularly complicated maths problem to glance over at his boyfriend. Toshiro was lying on his stomach with his face turned sideways towards Ichigo, his cheek resting on the open pages of whatever book he’d picked out from Ichigo’s collection this time. One of his dainty fingers was under the next sheet of paper, as though he’d almost been ready to turn the page when he had drifted off to sleep. Ichigo hadn’t even realised he was asleep until he looked up; he had been too busy trying to figure out the angle of X.</p>
<p>Looking over at his sleeping dragon, Ichigo smiled softly to himself, almost forgetting that said dragon had spoken in his sleep for the second time in his presence. Toshiro was the cutest little thing Ichigo had ever seen – not that he would tell his lover that – especially when he was asleep and his normal scowl was gone. He could not bring himself to blame Rangiku for snuggling his little lover whenever she found him asleep in the office, and in fact he would be doing the exact same thing right now if he didn’t have to get his homework finished; his father had not been happy to find out his school work was suffering due to his substitute soul reaper responsibilities.</p>
<p>Sighing softly to himself, he stood up from his desk and moved towards his bed. Slowly, he pulled the book out from Toshiro’s now loosened grip, hoping not to wake his lover. Ichigo reached over to his desk to grab the bookmark Toshiro used and placed it between the open pages. Closing the book, Ichigo glanced over the front cover.</p>
<p><em>Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows </em>by J. K. Rowling.</p>
<p>Ichigo raised an eyebrow. When had his lover finished the previous six books? He remembered recommending the series to Toshiro, and once he finished each book, they would watch the corresponding film; however they had only watched the first three movies. Toshiro was a quick reader, Ichigo knew, and he had told the captain to take books back to the Soul Society if he wanted to continue reading them, but he hadn’t expected the captain to enjoy the Harry Potter series so much. Toshiro seemed to enjoy more realistic stories, which Ichigo found mildly ironic given that most people in his world would find his little boyfriend’s own life story to be incredibly unrealistic – soul reapers did not exist, dragons did not exist and magical swords certainly did not exist.</p>
<p>Placing the book back on the desk for Toshiro to pick up again later, Ichigo pulled a blanket up to his lover’s shoulders and ran his hand through the snowy mop that was Toshiro’s hair.  This action caused the prodigy to roll onto his side and curl into a ball.</p>
<p>“Please…Ichi…go…”</p>
<p>Toshiro’s soft whisper barely made it to Ichigo’s ears. Ichigo’s hand froze in his lover’s hair.</p>
<p>“Help, Ichi…please…need to…save her.”</p>
<p>Ichigo sat down on the bed beside his lover, eyes filling with concern. Was Toshiro having a nightmare? He wondered briefly if Toshiro was stuck in past and fretting over Momo.</p>
<p>“She don’t…deserve this…e’s a hero.”</p>
<p>“Who, Baby? What’s wrong?” Ichigo stroked his lovers arm, trying to coax an answer out him.</p>
<p>“She’s sah good, Ichi…such a good birdie.”</p>
<p>To say that Ichigo was lost was an understatement. <em>Birdie?</em> His curiosity was peaked now, just who was a good Birdie? And why did she need saving?</p>
<p>Ichigo leant forward and kissed the tip of his boyfriend’s ear and asked who he was talking about once more.</p>
<p>Not in a million years would Ichigo have guessed what his lover was going to reply with.</p>
<p>“’Hed...ig...nooo, not Hedwig!”</p>
<p>It was official; Toshiro Hitsugaya had reached an impossible new level of adorability in Ichigo’s eyes.</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <strong>III.</strong>
</p>
<p>“Water…mel’n.”</p>
<p>Ichigo sighed for what seemed like the thousandth time that night. It was the height of summer. The Seireitei was experiencing one of its’ worst heat waves ever, and Toshiro’s ice-loving body had finally admitted defeat against the unyielding heat.</p>
<p>He was sick, very sick.</p>
<p>Rangiku had been the one to call Ichigo, knowing her frosty captain would never listen to her about his health and would continue to push himself in the ridiculous heat. Toshiro believed something as primitive as heat should not keep him from his duties. However, high temperatures were exceptionally dangerous to all ice-wielders – Toshiro especially since he wielded the strongest zanpakuto in that element – to the point that Captain Unohana almost considered heat to be like an allergy to those particular soul reapers.</p>
<p>Ichigo arrived in the Soul Society just in time. Toshiro was swaying on his feet and then completely collapsed in the berry’s arms before Ichigo could even demand he take a break.</p>
<p>“I know, I know, Baby, watermelon is great,” Ichigo wiped the sweat off his lover’s forehead with a cool, wet cloth before placing it back into the bowl of icy water. Unohana had given Ichigo medicine for his lover before recommending he take the little captain back to the Tenth Division. He would have preferred to keep his boyfriend at the Fourth where trained healers would be close by if Toshiro’s condition worsened, but Unohana argued that Toshiro only needed a little TLC and that waking up in the hospital might only distress him, prolonging his recovery. She had agreed to send someone to check up on the patient every few hours or so to keep Ichigo happy.</p>
<p>Since then, Toshiro had not regained full consciousness, but instead drifted in and out of restless sleep. The heat, along with his newly developed fever, was making him delirious, so it was no surprise to Ichigo that Toshiro would once again talk in his sleep.</p>
<p>“Ichi…need watermelon…juicy”</p>
<p>Under any other circumstances, Ichigo would have been rolling on the floor in a fit of giggles listening to the always serious captain spitting such complete nonsense, but he was too concerned about his baby dragon to laugh now. He couldn’t promise he wouldn’t make fun of his lover later, though.</p>
<p>“You need to keep still, Babe, I need to take your temperature,” Ichigo stressed to the squirming boy as he tried to pin down both of his wrists with one hand. He certainly empathized with Renji now, whom had been nursing a heat-sick Rukia all last week.</p>
<p>Once again, he lifted the cold cloth to his boyfriend’s face, running it softly over his forehead and cheeks, and down his throat and to the back of his neck. Toshiro relaxed under the cool touch, allowing Ichigo a brief smile as he placed the cloth on Toshiro’s bare chest. He reached for the thermometer, and slowly coaxed it through his lover’s slightly parted lips.</p>
<p>Beep, beep.</p>
<p>38.7 degrees Celsius.</p>
<p>It wasn’t good, but it was a significant improvement to the 40.2 degrees he was at when Ichigo first rushed him to the Fourth Division. <em>Good</em>, Ichigo sighed in relief, at least the medicine was working along with his own loving touch.</p>
<p>Toshiro had stopped fidgeting having finally fallen into a proper, less-broken sleep; however the occasional slurred speech still passed through his chapped lips. Ichigo wasn’t too worried about the sleep-talk though, as this was certainly not the first time he had heard his snow prince’s late night ramblings in the now two years they had been together.</p>
<p>Ichigo kissed his lover on the forehead, hearing more fragmented whispers he assumed to be about a particular red and green summer fruit. He smirked to himself; at least Toshiro found one good thing in this dreaded season.</p>
<p>“I will personally get you all the watermelon you want tomorrow, Toshiro,” Ichigo whispered into his boyfriend’s ear, cupping his baby-soft cheeks and placing a light kiss on those gorgeous lips.</p>
<p>“Good night, my love, and sleep well.”</p>
<hr/>
<p><strong>IV</strong>.</p>
<p>A tug.</p>
<p>A whimper.</p>
<p>Was his sleeve wet?</p>
<p>Ichigo’s sleep-hazed mind started to pull him into consciousness. Something was wrong.</p>
<p>He felt it again; the slight tugging on his shirt.</p>
<p>Ichigo tried to open his bleary eyes. Blinking once, twice, three times before he was able to take in the familiar surroundings of his own bedroom.</p>
<p>Another whimper to his right reminded him that he was not alone, Toshiro was here too.</p>
<p>Ichigo groggily raised his head to look down at his lover. Toshiro was gripping onto his arm like it was a life line, fists curled into the material of his shirt sleeves, and face nuzzled as close as he could possibly get to Ichigo’s body.</p>
<p>Ichigo rolled onto his side, his unoccupied arm slung over his boyfriend’s lithe form, and prepared to drift back to sleep.</p>
<p>“M not…Ichi, I’m not...freak.”</p>
<p>Ichigo opened his eyes back up, forgetting he even closed them.</p>
<p>Toshiro whimpered again, “I’m not a freak, Ichi…”</p>
<p>Realisation dawned on Ichigo as he ran his hand along Toshiro’s damp cheeks and creased brow. His baby dragon was trapped in a nightmare. Ichigo pulled himself to full awareness, his sleeve was soaked. Toshiro never cried, at least not that Ichigo could recall, but there was no denying it; Ichigo could now see the faint tear tracks down his lover’s face under the moonlight streaming in through his open window.</p>
<p>Ichigo was at a loss, what should he do? He had plenty of experience calming down his sisters’ nightmares in the years following their mother’s death – hell, he had plenty of experience with his own nightmares. But this was different, something was different. Toshiro didn’t look scared, just sad, oh so incredibly sad. Ichigo’s heart was breaking just from the sight.</p>
<p>Deciding not to try and wake his boyfriend just yet, Ichigo wrapped himself around his lover, running his hands down his spine and through his messy hair. He wanted to listen a little longer, to figure out what it was that was mentally ripping his snow prince apart.</p>
<p>“Do you…think…’m a freak, Ichig...o?” Toshiro asked in his sleep-strained speech. Ichigo frowned at the desperation leaking through that normally cool and reserved voice. Did Toshiro seriously think Ichigo thought he was a freak?</p>
<p>Ichigo had learnt long ago, through Rangiku, that Toshiro was often bullied during his academy days and much more when living in Junrinan. She had told him the story of how she found him; a shop keeper treated him like dirt despite him being a paying customer who had done nothing wrong. Ichigo remembered asking Rangiku what that guy’s problem was, to which she replied, “He thought my captain was a freak…all the residents of Junrinan did, save his grandmother. It was his hair and eyes that threw people off, not to mention the untamed icy spiritual pressure that lingered wherever he did.”</p>
<p>Still trying to piece Toshiro’s nightmare together, Ichigo thought back to the zanpakto rebellion when he met Hyorinmaru – Toshiro’s zanpakto – in human form. This was before they were dating, but Ichigo’s crush was in full force. He remembered his brief conversation with the stoic ice dragon. Hyorinmaru had told him that he now remembered his master, reminded of the reasons he called out to him so young in the first place.  Toshiro was lonely, people avoided him on the streets and none of the other children wanted to play with him. Even Momo had called him a freak once in a heated sibling quarrel. She regretted it and apologized when she had calmed down, but the damage was done; Toshiro always had the thought in the back of his mind.</p>
<p>“I’m not a freak…I’m not…” Toshiro whimpered again.</p>
<p>Ichigo’s heart was beyond broken now; it was absolutely shattered.</p>
<p>“No, no, Baby, you know I love you, you’re not a freak,” he cooed, trying to recall if something had happened recently to bring this on.</p>
<p>Then it hit him like a speeding freight train.</p>
<p>They had been hanging out with Chad, Orihime and Tatsuki at the mall earlier that day, when they had run in to Keigo and Mizuiro. In true Keigo form, the way-too-loud teenager had exclaimed, “why are you guys hanging out with that little freak instead of me, huh?!”, obviously jealous that Ichigo’s former high school gang had forgotten to include him once again, but had managed to invite the white-haired prodigy who never returned to class all those years ago.</p>
<p>Ichigo had just about been ready to lunge forward and smack the brunette over the back of his head, when Chad had calmly stepped forward, picked up Keigo by the scruff of his collar and walked off without saying a word. Mizuiro didn’t even look up from his phone as he followed the large Mexican and his catch through the crowd of other shoppers.</p>
<p>They had all laughed it off; almost a year after finishing high school, Keigo was still being Keigo, and it was no wonder they didn’t invite him anywhere these days. Ichigo had thought Toshiro wouldn’t think twice about it; he rarely seemed to care what humans thought of him.</p>
<p>“Please, Ichi…m not…beli…eve me.”</p>
<p>Ichigo kissed his lover’s forehead and rocked him gently, but he still did not calm down. Ichigo needed to wake him up now, to tell him how much he loved him so Toshiro would know for sure.</p>
<p>Not sure what else to do, Ichigo kissed his trembling ice prince firmly on the lips. One second, two seconds, three…</p>
<p>“Is there a reason you are molesting me in my sleep, Kurosaki?” came the irritated reply that he had been looking for.</p>
<p>Letting out a breath of relief, Ichigo came face to face with those beautiful teal eyes that made his heart skip a beat no matter how many times he saw them. How could anyone not like them? He gave a strained half-smile, and pecked the boy’s lips once again, softly this time and then he pulled back to look at his lover.</p>
<p>“I couldn’t resist, you are just so gorgeous,” Ichigo answered gently, as he moved to place light little kisses down Toshiro’s neck.</p>
<p>Toshiro huffed in mild annoyance, and moved his hand up to wipe the sleep out of his eyes. He must have felt the wetness as he immediately pulled back his hand to look at it. Ichigo rewrapped his arms around his lover’s torso, and nuzzled his nose into the crook of Toshiro’s neck.</p>
<p>Toshiro’s body had tensed, so Ichigo assumed he was working out what had happened. After a minute, he slowly relaxed back to Ichigo’s hold before mumbling a quiet apology for waking him up. But Ichigo was having none that. He pulled back from Toshiro and stared hard into his cerulean orbs.</p>
<p>“Never apologize for having a bad dream,” Ichigo whispered. He was quoting Toshiro actually, who said that every year when the anniversary of his mother’s death returned along with the associated night terrors.</p>
<p>“But just so you know, I think you’re the most beautiful person to ever exist. Beautiful inside…” Ichigo traced a circle around Toshiro’s heart with the tip of his finger, “…and out,” he finished, tracing his finger back up to Toshiro’s temple.</p>
<p>He knew he had succeeded in convincing his boyfriend when Toshiro simply scoffed, rolled over so that they were now spooning, and muttered “idiot” under his breath. Ichigo couldn’t supress the wide grin spreading across his features as he pulled Toshiro closer to his body and felt the cool, dainty fingers of his lover intertwine with his own.</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <strong>V.</strong>
</p>
<p>Rolling over in bed, Ichigo slung an arm out to reach for his ice prince, but instead of finding another body his hand found empty mattress. So he rolled towards Toshiro’s side once again but was still met with nothing. He was alone.</p>
<p>Ichigo sat up hastily and flicked on his bedside lamp. Light erupted from the globe, illuminating the large room of Toshiro’s captain’s quarters. Nope, Toshiro was not in the room. Ichigo frowned, he could see into the bathroom as the door was open, but the light was off and that room appeared to be empty too.</p>
<p>
  <em>Odd.</em>
</p>
<p>Toshiro went to bed with him, so where was he now?</p>
<p>Ichigo shuffled over to the edge of the bed, slipping on some socks and gradually forced his tired body up. He was wondering if Toshiro had taken to sleeping on the couch tonight after their earlier spat. Just as quickly as the thought had appeared, he banished it from his mind. They had a little argument, nothing to warrant sleeping separately. It wasn’t even anything new; Toshiro was stressed and had something serious on his mind, but he wouldn’t tell Ichigo what the problem was. Ichigo just wanted Toshiro to be honest with him and for them to share the burden so that his boyfriend didn’t carry the whole weight of whatever the issue was on his tiny shoulders. Choosing to use the word “tiny” did not go over well.</p>
<p>Padding into the open plan living room/dining room/kitchen, Ichigo eventually found Toshiro staring aimlessly out the window, his stance awfully rigid.</p>
<p>“Toshiro? Babe, what are you doing out here?” Ichigo yawned, taking a few steps towards his lover of almost 4 years.</p>
<p>“Ichi…”</p>
<p>Ichigo paused mid-step. Toshiro only ever called him that when he was sleep-talking, but he was clearly standing up so he couldn’t have been asleep…could he?</p>
<p>“Toshiro…”</p>
<p>No reply came.</p>
<p>“Babe, let’s go back to bed,” Ichigo said cautiously as he slowly made his way too stand in front of his boyfriend.</p>
<p>He gasped; Toshiro was definitely not awake. His eyes were open, yes, but they were glassy – looking but not seeing. Ichigo slowly raised his hand up to Toshiro’s field of vision and moved it back and forth, but Toshiro’s eyes did not move, he continued to look straight through Ichigo.</p>
<p>“Ichi…”</p>
<p>Ichigo continued staring at his lover, mouth agape. Was Toshiro so stressed he was now sleep-walking as well as sleep-talking? Something must be seriously eating him up this time. It frustrated Ichigo to no end that his lover would keep something so serious from him; this was a whole new level of stress if the poor guy was walking around the house while asleep looking like a lifeless zombie.</p>
<p>“What’s going on with you, huh?” Ichigo sighed, running his fingers through his own hair. He reached forward to claim his boyfriend’s hand, intending to give it a small kiss before leading him back to the bedroom, hopefully without waking him, but he soon realised Toshiro’s hand was busy – he was holding something.</p>
<p>Slowly, Ichigo worked the small item out of Toshiro’s surprisingly tight grip. His boyfriend had uttered another “Ichi…” and something else Ichigo hadn’t been able to decipher, not that he was completely listening right now; he was too involved in his task.</p>
<p>Finally the item was out of Toshiro’s hand and in Ichigo’s. It felt like a small box, so Ichigo shifted his position slightly, holding up the box to the light coming through the window.</p>
<p>It was a box; a small, black, velvet box to be precise.</p>
<p>Ichigo raised an eyebrow, glancing over to his zombie-boyfriend. He couldn’t stop the smile that was erupting over his face; was this seriously what he thought it was?</p>
<p>Like a super excited kid on Christmas morning, Ichigo flipped open the box. He inhaled loudly before remembering his lover. <em>Phew</em>, the captain had not moved an inch. Ichigo’s eyes drifted back to the box, or rather to the stunning platinum ring that sat inside the box on a bed of pearly silk.</p>
<p>It was an engagement ring. There was no disputing that.</p>
<p>Ichigo stood there unbelievably shocked. He, and everyone who knew the couple, always thought he’d be the one to propose, not the frosty ice prince. If Ichigo was honest with himself, he had considered it numerous times, fairly recently in fact, but he hadn’t been sure Toshiro was ready. Ichigo was ready though; he was doing well in his medicine studies at college, he had a part time job while gaining medical experience at his father’s clinic and he even had moved out of home to an apartment he shared with Chad. But much more important than all of that was the fact that he was undoubtedly just so incredibly in love with Toshiro Hitsugaya.</p>
<p>“Ichi…marry me.”</p>
<p>Toshiro’s voice startled Ichigo out of his thoughts. <em>Ahh yes</em>, zombie-boyfriend/future husband was still rooted to the spot Ichigo had found him.</p>
<p>Another thought crossed his mind and Ichigo suddenly burst out laughing. He could not believe that this was what was stressing his boyfriend into sleep-walking, that this was the thing Toshiro would not tell him about and the reason for their earlier argument. Wiping the happy tears from his eyes he hadn’t even realised had sprung, Ichigo tried a few times to compose himself and stop the endless chuckling.</p>
<p>“Oh, Toshiro… I guess you had a good reason to keep this from me,” Ichigo beamed.</p>
<p>“Will you…mar…ry…me, Ich...i?” Toshiro struggled out syllable after syllable in a voice of pure anxiety and nervousness.</p>
<p>Ichigo rolled his eyes, picked up Toshiro’s limp hand, and very slowly lead him back to the bedroom. He was glad his lover actually followed him and did not crumple to a heap on the ground. Ichigo helped him back into bed and pulled up his covers, before placing the ring into the opened dresser – he really hoped that this was where Toshiro was hiding the ring and had not left the dresser open for another reason – and climbing back into bed himself.</p>
<p>He grinned as he heard Toshiro once again propose to him in his sleep, a little more confidently this time.</p>
<p>“Shhh now, baby, you can ask me that question in the morning when you wake up,” he chuckled, leaning over to kiss his lover’s temple, “but I think we both know what the answer will be.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In the morning, Toshiro could not fathom why his idiotic boyfriend was grinning at him so manically. <em>Oh well</em>, he thought, it was better that Ichigo be in a good mood for their dinner plans that night; Toshiro had something very important to ask him, and he was nervous as hell.</p>
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